COME SAIL AWAY: Yom Kippur Rant, TV Talk, and Gettin' Ready to ROCK

After a long day of fasting, it was nice to finally eat some food!

Although it's funny, I never feel all that hungry by the end of the day on Yom Kippur, for whatever reason. You THINK you'll be able to eat three consecutive meals by the time you make it to sundown, but usually for me I eat a bagel or two and consider myself full. I guess going all day without eating shrinks your stomach, or something.

This year, I went to J-Connect's high holiday services. Basically, J-Connect is in theory a group for young Jews here in LA, that specializes in social events but also has some more purely religious content, such as high holiday services. However, the servies I attended for Rosh Hashana and today for Yom Kippur were a decidedly mixed bag. On one hand, I really enjoyed the rabbi they had - he had some great mini-sermons and was an excellent speaker. i also enjoyed, mostly, the way that the services were broken up with "breakout sessions" at various points, where anyone who was interested could head over to an adjacent room and spend a half hour or so basically partiipating in a mini-class in which one of the rabbis in attendance would speak about some aspect of the high holidays. These were, mostly, interesting and informative and made the services go by rather quickly and painlessly. A great idea that i'd love to see more services implement - back home in CT, one of my biggest complaints with the traditional Conservative service has long been that everyone just goes through the motions, and rarely does the rabbi stop to just give some basic background behind the various prayers. I hate services where everyone simply goes out of obligation, and you spend the entire time checking to see how many pages are left in the prayer book. I give the J-Connect services a lot of credit - they were really streamlined, yet were seemingly packed with information and had some nice moments where the congregation was really into the prayers and you had that feeling of spiritual uplifting. On the other hand, my biggest complaint about these services is simply that they seemed to be too much of an odd mix of traditions and featured a very eclectic crowd. For one thing, there was a mechitza in the center of the room that divided the men and women, with guys on one side and girls on the other. To me, this is a pretty extreme way to hold a service, and ultimately proves almost comcially distracting, as it feels like everyone is spending their time stealing glances at the other side of the curtain. This was one aspect of why the whole religious makeup of the service was so odd - a total mix of seeming Orthodox Jews with others who likely didn't know Hebrew and were barely even reform. It was definitely a weird vibe - I mean, the service itself was very orthodox-ish, with little English, and yet the Break-Out sessions gave things a loose, progressive feel. I liked that looseness, but I didn't understand why in many ways they kept things feeling like an Orthodox service. Also, one of the big draws of J-Connect, for me, has been that it supposedly caters to a younger crowd. I've been a bit disappointed in going to some of their social events that the crowds tend to be very much over 30. However, at these services it was even worse, as J0Connect was apparently only one of a few organizations to co-sponsor the service. Not sure if that was the reason why this was the case - but the reality was that there seemed to be only a handful of people in attendance under 30, and in fact I felt like I might have been one of if not they youngest there.

This leads me to my big question, one I've been trying to figure out since I moved to LA -- what are all of us 20-something conservative Jews supposed to do with ourselves post-college? It seems like the scenarios are:

a.) You still live close enough to your hometown that you continue to celebrate Jewish holidays with your family, and attend your family synagogue, as you have for your first twenty years.

b.) You basically become a secular Jew, MAYBE fast on Yom Kippur, but otherwise are not really an active part of the Jewish community.

c.) ???

So my question is - there's got to be an Option C, but what is it? I'm still trying to figure that out. Joining a full-fledged synagogue as a single 20-something is both prohibitively expensive and awkward in that, for obvious reasons, most synagogues cater to married couples and people who can afford to pay hefty annual fees and buy high=priced high holiday tickets. Last year I managed to get a free ticket for high holiday services to a large conservative synagogue in Valley Village - it was a great synagogue - if you're a young married couple with kids. For myself, I attended, listened to the service, but felt totally awkward and out of place, and felt like everyone was looking at me wondering what I was doing there. Now, part of the problem is LA itself. In Boston, the services at BU really were ideal. They had large, boisterous crowds and were totally welcoming to anyone, whether you were a BU student or just walking in off the street. The crowd was a great mix of students, alumni, and just residents of Beantown, young and old, who enjoyed attending those particular services in BU's Marsh Chapel. As far as I know, there is not really the equivalent at UCLA or USC, where it's just a big, open, Conservative service that anyone can and does attend. now, LA does have a lot of random, fairly low=cost services, from J-Connect to Aish to the Chai Center- but these are a.) all progressive to some extent but also very Orthodox-leaning, and b.) typically attended by Jews well past 30. It speaks to the makeup of LA Jew-ry, which to me seems either very religious or totally secular. Working in Entertainment, I know a decent amount of Jews from work, the Page Program, etc - virtually ALL of them are totally secular and do zilch for Rosh Hashana or Yom Kippur. And the few I know who have been interested in participating in Jewish activities, well, like me, they've been increasingly turned off by the various events put on by groups like J-Connect.

So here are my two follow-up questions:

1.) All of these big synagogues - don't they realize that there all all these Gen Y'ers out there who, once they move away from their families and hometowns, become totally displaced from the Jewish community, because the synagogues do so little to bring them in? I mean, why isn't there some widespread movement among conservative Judaism to provide attractive, low-cost options so that Twenty-Somethings can actually remain actively Jewish in their post-collegiate years?

2.) Why does the conservative movement have no group that serves as the next phase after USY and then Hillel? For all of its faults, Hillel is an amazing organization that keeps countless college students involved Jewishly throughout their university years. So after those years are over and done with ... well, then what?!?! I know that that's precisely what I'm wondering. Because here I am in LA, a city filled with young Jews, and yet with no central organization for young conservative Jews, no place that says - come pray and celebrate with us on the high holidays for a low cost, amongst your peers. Why doesn't such a thing exist?

Now again, part of this problem may have to do with the slightly weird makeup of LA. But really, this is a much larger problem. I ask any of my Jewish friends who've graduated, who no longer live with their parents - what do you do for the Jewish holidays? If you live within a short drive of your family, you likely celebrate with them. If you live in a college town like Boston, your'e probably still attending services via Hillel - and why not, those end to be a great experience. But if neither of those two scenarios apply to you - what do you do? I'm curious to know, because my suspicion is that this is a larger problem at play.

Thoughts?

ANYWAYS ...

On a totally different subject, tommorow is going to be CRAZY. Me and a few rockstars-in-arms are headed to Irvine to see a triple-bill of DEF LEPPARD, FOREIGNER, and STYX. Now that's a lot of rock n' roll, and I couldn't be more psyched. This will be my third concert in the last several weeks, and oddly, all have been shows featuring 80's hair-metal bands. Both POISON and SCORPIONS put on great shows, and i'm hoping Def Leppard will be no different. I'm not sure quite what to expect, but it should be a day to remember in the OC. Expect a full report soon.

MY TOP 10 DEF LEPPARD SONGS:

1.) PHOTOGRAPH - Has there ever been a better song to blast from your car while driving around on a hot summer day?
2.) POUR SOME SUGAR On ME - One of the all time great sing-along songs, this one's a quintissential party-starter.
3.) ROCKET - Rock It. Yeah-eah. SAY It LOUDERRRR ...!
4.) ARMAGEDDON IT - Ooh gimme all of your lovin'! Oh gimme all of your love!
5.) LOVE BITES - ... classic power ballad Deff Leppard-style
6.) FOOLIN' - IS there anybody out there ...? Is there ANYONE WHO CARRRRES?
7.) LET'S GET ROCKED - I'm your average ordinary everyday kid - happy to do nothin', and that's just what I did!
8.) ANIMAL - And i want! And i need! An-im-al!
9.) ROCK OF AGES - how many songs can one band have with ROCK in the title? Apparently, a lot!
10.) BRINGIN ON THE HEARTBREak - yeaaaaaaaaah, yeah!

Oh, cheesy 80's rock n' roll - is there anything better?

TV STUfF:

- Man, I can't believe how quickly the new TV Season is approaching. HOPEFULLY, you've already gone over to Amazon unbOX and downloaded the free pilots for NBC's latest shows - CHUCK, JOURNEYMAN, LIFE, and BIONIC WOMAN. In any case, Monday is NBC's big premiere night, with Chuck at 8 pm, HEROES at 9, and Journeyman at 10. Chuck in particular is a must-watch ... man, Mondays are way too crammed with good TV now. Last year it was bad enought that Heroes and 24 were on at the same time beginning in January. Now, the NBC vs FOX battle for the young male demo is even more intense, as CHUCK battles PRISONBREAK at 8 pm on Mondays! Aaah, so much TV. Plus, the CW's excellent new comedy, ALIENS in AMERICA, is also, I believe, on Mondays as well (@ 8:30?). Too much TV.

- And then, tommorow (Sunday), is the return of FOX's Sunday Night Lineup! I mentioned how I was looking forward to tHe SIMPSOns to se if it could capitalize on the momentum from the movie. Much to m dismay, early reviews of the SEason 19 premiere have bee laess than stellar, though supposedly the quality improves with some of the subsequent eps. But thank the animation gods, KING OF THE HILL is BAAAAAACK! For some reason I had mistakenly assumed, when I wrote my Returning TV Fall PReview, that KOTH wasn't back until mid-season. So really psyched for that one, as the show has only gotten better with age, and it contains some of my favorite characters of all time in terms of television comedy. Plus, tommorow is FAMILY GUY's big Star-Wars-themed premiere, so that should be cool.

- In the past, I've spoken highly of two of last week's big fall premieres - FOX's BACK TO YOU and CW's GOSSIP GIRL. I rewatched both of the pilots and here are some very quick second thoughts:

BACK TO YOU - On second viewing, this one just did not hold up for me. i think I was originally just very pleasantly surprised to see a traditionally-done sitcom that had a bit of old-school charm and didn't completely suck. But on second viewing, I just didn't find Back To You all that funny - the jokes felt forced and the emotional moments obvious and ham-fisted. If anyone can pull off this type of show it's Kelsey Grammar, who is surrounded by a top-notch supporting cast. But this show reminds me a little of 20 Good Years, the failed Nbc sitcom which had two talented actors in Jon Lithgow and Jeffrey Tambor - without dead-on writing, even the talent on hand couldn't make the thing feel fresh and must-see. Back To you has some real potential though, but the humor needs to be a lot sharper for it to stand out against cutting edge comedies like The Office and 30 Rock.

My Grade: B -

GOSSIP GIRL - Here's another one where on first viewing I was really impressed - relative to a lot of the other soap-ish pilots I saw, this was easily the best. But watching it on TV, where I was deciding whether to commit to watching it on my own time on a regular basis, my enthusiam was still high but not quite as clear as it once was. I think the biggest problem is that Gossp Girl takes itself very seriously, which is a bit jarring in this post-OC age of self-aware, post-ironic teen soaps. This is itself ironic, since GG comes from OC maestro Josh Schwartz. But it looks like JS reserved all his humor for NBc's Chuck, his other fall show. GG plays out more like a teen Melrose Place - it's ultra-juicy and heavy on the Cruel Intentions-esque snobby teen melodrama. The actors here area ll surprisingly excellent as well, and the characters are generally a lot of fun, and in possession of a surprising amount of depth for this type of show. This is one I may give a few episodes to win me over, but I feel like it's hard for me to take this inherently silly show as seriously as I'm supposed to.

My Grade: B

- Allllllllright ... I'm gonna turn in soon so as to be primed and ready to ROCK tommorow. So pour some sugar, cuz i'm a jukebox hero who's tellin ya' to come sail away, come sail away, come sail away withhh meeeeeeeee!